“Birthday Getaways” seems to be the unofficial theme of this season of The Real Housewives of New York City. First, the ladies went to Atlantic City for Ramona’s first birthday as a single lady. Now they’re headed to the Berkshires for Dorinda’s 50th birthday weekend in this episode, “Birthday in the Berks.” And like any Real Housewives trip, there are sure to be plenty of fireworks. Let’s get to it.
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Back to the Berkshires
So Dorinda’s house in the Berkshires is bananas. It’s literally a gated manor on top of a hill. It’s gorgeous. It seems like the kind of house that should have a butler. All of the ladies love it and feel like they’re getting to know a bit more about Dorinda by being there.
Ramona tells Carole and Kristen that she invited her business partner, Peter, to join them this weekend and wonders if that would constitute a date. Carole says it definitely is, but when she presses Ramona about details of their relationship, she becomes very tight-lipped. I think Ramona is still figuring out her life right now, so maybe Carole should cut her a bit of slack when it comes to pressing her for details about her personal life.
Ramona pulls Kristen aside later to talk about the incident with LuAnn at Dorinda’s birthday dinner in the city. She thinks that LuAnn threw her under the bus by outing a conversation they had about John. Kristen admits to getting the creeps from John as well.
Dorinda overhears them talking and asks them what it’s all about. Kristen tells Dorinda how she did not feel comfortable with him touching her at a party a few weeks ago. In her confessional, Ramona says that it would have been better left unsaid. And Dorinda tears Kristen down. She tells Kristen that she made herself look like an ass and she made Dorinda and John look like asses. She says she shouldn’t be coquettish, and if she wanted it to stop, she could have walked away. Instead, it was just embarrassing, and it’s embarrassing all over again now that she’s brought it up again.
Dorinda then gets emotional when she talks about John and starting over with dating at 50 as a widow. It’s not a place she expected to be at this point in her life. Through tears, she asks the women to give her, and John, a break. How could you deny her that? She says John has been there for her this last year, and that’s enough for her. Her confession even melts Ramona’s cold heart. She says she’s willing to give John another shot for Dorinda’s sake.
Let’s Talk About Bethenny
The ladies go out for dinner at the Red Lion Inn, where they talk a lot about Bethenny. Ramona and LuAnn defend her sometimes harsh demeanor because they know she had a rough upbringing. Heather doesn’t accept this as an excuse, though. She says everyone has their problems, but it doesn’t make them nasty. Take her for instance; she just lost her nanny of nine years. Yes, Heather is comparing losing her nanny to Bethenny’s abusive childhood.
Ramona then makes a speech about overcoming adversity and finding inner strength. Dorinda thinks that it’s BS and it’s all about just taking things one day at a time. She commiserates with Carole, who is also a widow, about the real level of tragedy they’ve both unfortunately had to endure.
The next day, after Sonja arrives, the ladies go into town to do some shopping. While Sonja and Carole talk about the shapes of their vibrators (of course), Ramona pulls LuAnn aside about their most recent confrontation at dinner. Ramona does manage to get LuAnn to apologize for bringing up their issues with John at the wrong time and place. She just wants to drop the whole thing so they don’t stress Dorinda out on her birthday.
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Dorinda’s Birthday Dinner
All the ladies get really dressed-up for the big birthday dinner. Except Sonja, who manages to forget to bring a dress for dinner, despite the fact that she brings at least five bags with her. She barges into Dorinda and John’s room to borrow a dress wearing only her lingerie. Sonja keeps it classy, as always.
LuAnn looks stunning with her dark gloves and red lip, like a real Countess as Carole says. Carole tells LuAnn that she Googled Ramona’s new man, and his name came up in some tabloids for allegedly having an affair with the same woman that Mario had an affair with. This information is almost too juicy for the Countess, who shares it with Heather right away.
Right before they sit down for dinner, Bethenny comes with a giant bouquet of flowers for Dorinda. She brought her daughter with her to the Berkshires and put her to bed before coming over. Dorinda is quite touched and everyone else is happy to see her — with the exception of Heather, who for some reason is still salty at Bethenny. Probably because she’s still dealing with the tragedy of losing her nanny.
Drinks are going around the dinner table, so maybe that’s what contributes to things going off the rails. A weird argument erupts between Bethenny and Heather. Bethenny says she can’t eat the fish and Heather keeps offering to get her something else, but Bethenny just wants her to leave her alone. It ends quickly, but there’s an awkward tension between the two now.
Heather asks Ramona’s date, Peter, about his businesses, and she is a little pushy with the questions. She also tells him that the journalist in the group looked him up, so that’s a little threatening. Not to mention he’s Ramona’s guest and there’s no need to give him the third degree. Casual dinner party small talk would suffice just fine.
But Bethenny and Sonja keep giggling at their own private conversation while Heather is talking and this makes her mad. She threatens to separate the two for being so disruptive. Bethenny says she doesn’t need Heather talking to her like that, like she’s mommying her. Again, she wants Heather to stop badgering her and leave her alone.
Heather does not take the hint and will not let it go. She tries to get up from the dinner table and pull Bethenny aside, but Bethenny is not going anywhere with her. They both end up upset at the dinner table, and I’m sure Bethenny was wishing she never even came.
This crazy dinner is To Be Continued.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Tuesdays at 9pm on Bravo.
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
